Concern as Covid positivity rate keeps rising, exceeding 20% Monday

The health authorities have expressed concerns over the country's Covid-19 situation which is deteriorating fast with 10 more deaths and 6,676 new infections reported in the last 24 hours till 8am Monday.

The daily positivity rate on Monday rose to 20.88%, which is the highest since 21 August last year.

"We are concerned and worried as the positivity rate has soared to 18% in the past 15 days. If the trend continues it will not take long for the positivity rate to cross 30% soon," Health Minister Zahid Maleque told the media at the secretariat on Monday.

"Cases of hospitalisations are also increasing and if it does not stop there will be no place in hospitals in the next one-and-a-half months, which will be difficult to handle," he said.

Thus, he urged everyone to abide by health regulations and maintain social distance.

Professor Dr ABM Khurshid Alam, director general of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), also said the 20.88% positivity rate recorded on Monday is "alarming".

The health minister said about 69% of the newly detected patients are infected by the Omicron variant.

"Genome sequencing after testing samples in Dhaka in the last 10 days showed omicron infection rate has risen to 69%, which was 13% before," said the health minister adding that the rate outside of Dhaka might be the same.

Following the increase in infections, the government has lowered the age limit from 60 to 50 years to be eligible for booster dose, he added.

Regarding imposing lockdown following the spike in infections, Professor Meerjady Sabrina Flora, additional director general (planning and development) of DGHS, said during a briefing on Monday that lockdown is given considering the issue of livelihood, infection situation, hospitalisation rate and other issues. Although the infection is growing rapidly, authorities are monitoring the situation closely and have not thought of lockdown yet.

"If we want to keep the country's economy stable and educational institutes open, everyone has to follow the rules of hygiene and avoid social events," she added.

At present, 12-to 17-year-old students are being vaccinated on a priority basis. Once this is done, workers in factories, transport, and hotel restaurants will be vaccinated. In addition, everyone over 18 can register for the vaccine with a NID card, she said further.

During the briefing, she informed that 80% of those who died in January due to the virus were not vaccinated.

DGHS said that non-Covid patients will not be allowed in Covid-dedicated hospitals to deal with the rising infections. The hospital's oxygen capacity and ICU beds have also been increased.

Liquid oxygen has been supplied to 118 government hospitals along with a central oxygen line. Ten ICU beds have been increased in 43 hospitals. The process of preparing 430 ICU beds is almost complete. Around 102 oxygen generators have also been imported as well as oxygen capacity has been improved to 250 tonnes, which was 170 tonnes, said Professor Dr Ahmedul Kabir, additional director general (administration) of DGHS.

"We are increasing health service capacity but if the number of infections increases too rapidly, it would be a matter of concern," he added.

The DGHS director general has also sought the help of all ministries and administrations to enforce the 11-point restrictions and ban on fairs and public gatherings to combat the infection.

Bangladesh logged 28,154 deaths and 16,28,387 cases since the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020.